AN: I apologise for the delay in this one, but my laptop broke before I could post it yesterday, so I had to rewrite it today.
Year 3 – Cracker
Kelsi's mom nervously waited for Ryan to be dropped off at her place. To make up for all the times Kelsi had gone to the Evans' house, she had taken the day off work and invited Ryan round to play with Kelsi. It wasn't only Kelsi's mom that was excited. When Kelsi found out Ryan was coming round, she nodded, and went to her playhouse to tidy up the toy kitchenette, reorganise her dolls and put them in their best clothes, and her mom gave her some Christmas decorations and some crackers to put on the little table in the house. As she arranged the table the way her mom had shown her to, butterflies fluttered in her stomach. Ryan had never been to her house before, and his house was much bigger than hers, and he had a nicer playhouse than her, too.
When Ryan was dropped off, he looked around eagerly at the house. There were various pictures of Kelsi around, and a few of her mom, and other relatives he'd never seen. The apartment was small, but it was cosy enough for both of them to live happily, and Kelsi had her own room with her bed on one side, and an assortment of toys on the other. Entering the bedroom, he saw Kelsi looking down at her feet, and he saw that she was quieter than usual. Though at preschool she rarely spoke - no-one had a chance to when Sharpay was around – normally she couldn't stop speaking when it was just the two of them.
"Hey Kelsi." He smiled. In the past year, he had learnt to say Kelsi in the proper way. "I like your house it's pretty."
"Thanks." She answered, shyly. "I likes your house more."
"No, my house is scary! At night theres monsters under my bed!" He frowned, remembering a nightmare he had the night before. Kelsi's eyes widened.
"Really?"
"Yeah they're big and scary! Sharpay said they want to eat me..." He whispered.
"No! They wont eat Ryan!" Said Kelsi, brightening up a little. "Come see my special house! Mommy gots all the tinsel and a tree and it looks all Christmassy!" Ryan grinned and followed Kelsi to the little playhouse. He went straight over to the kitchenette, and opened the little oven door, but Kelsi shooed him away. "No the turkey is cooking you can't open the door!" She gasped. She picked up two plastic cups from the side. "There's some juice." She said, pretending to sip hers. As Ryan drank the invisible juice, he saw the crackers on the table and smiled.
"Crackers! We can pull one, can't we Kelsi?" He grinned.
"No that's for at dinner! We pull them later. You give our baby a bottle." She instructed, pointing to the cot where a doll lay, her arms twisted awkwardly above her head. Ryan nodded and went over, picking up the baby bottle from the floor, and feeding the baby. After feeding the doll, Ryan put it on his shoulder and rubbed it's back in circles.
"Shh baby you burp and you can go back to sleep…" He said to it, eventually putting it back in the cot.
He went back to Kelsi and the kitchenette. "Baby's fed, we can pull cracker now?"
"No, dinner not ready!" Kelsi scolded, a playful smile on her lips. "You open present! Me and mommy picked it out for you!" She motioned to the box that sat by the kitchenette, wrapped in red and green paper, with
"But it's not Christmas til tomorrow!" Gasped Ryan, pouting. "Won't I go on Santa's bad list?"
"No mommy said she checked with Santa, it's okay." Said Kelsi, turning away from the kitchenette to see Ryan open the present. He took great care to not rip the shiney paper as he carefully pulled it away. As was expected, inside was a box. Taking the lid off, he smiled. In the box was a blue hat. "I told mommy you like blue, so we got you it! It keeps your head warm, see!" She took it out the box and put it on his head. It fit well and he smiled.
"I like it!"
Another five minutes past, and eventually Kelsi decided that it was time for Christmas dinner, and dished the invisible food out onto the plate, and carried it over to Ryan, who was sitting at the table, wearing his hat.
"Careful, it's hot!" She warned, as he started eating.
"We have dinner now we can pull crackers!" His eyes lit up as Kelsi picked up one of the crackers, and held out the end for him to pull.
"Good luck!" She giggled, and they both pulled hard on their respective end, and giggled at the pop the cracker made when it ripped. Kelsi ended up being the winner.
"What you get!" He asked, excited. Kelsi shook the contents onto the table, and picked up a whistle.
"Cool!" She grinned, and started blowing in it excitedly. After a while she put it down and picked up the next one. "Do this one now!" Ryan nodded eagerly and pulled hard on the end, and the gift end flew into his lap, as did the contents of the cracker. She peered over eagerly. "What you get!" Ryan didn't say anything just grinned and walked around to the side of the table Kelsi was sitting at.
"Look, a ring! We can merry!"
"What's merry?" Asked Kelsi, confused. Ryan shrugged.
"But mommy and daddy are merry. And daddy said mommy got a ring, so I guess you're merry if you gives a ring?" He shrugged, and gave her the plastic ring to Kelsi, who put it on her finger.
A while later Kelsi's mom called them out of the playhouse for a snack, and instantly saw the hat on Ryan's head, and smiled, then saw the ring on Kelsi's finger.
"Kelsi, where did that come from?"
"Me and Ryan are merry!" She grinned, clearly not knowing what it meant, or knowing the mistake. Kelsi's mom smiled.
"One day honey, I'm sure of that."